Laurent Koscielny Completes Move to Arsenal

24 year old French defender Laurent Koscielny has sealed a switch from Lorient to Arsenal on an undisclosed fee. The centre back has agreed a ‘long term deal’, but there has been no news on how long his contract is.

Koscielny has been brought in to try and shore up Arsenal’s defence and is seen as an ideal replacement for William Gallas and Sol Campbell, after the defenders were not offered new deals by the North London club. Wenger told the Arsenal club website, “We identified him as a strong centre half, who has made big progress very quickly. He has shown he is mentally strong, he is a fighter and a very strong competitor”.

Although French born, uncapped Koscielny qualifies to play for Poland or France, depending on which way he chooses. Koscielny will wear the number 6 shirt and is expected to make his first appearance in the Emirates Cup on the weekend beginning 31st July, where the Gunners compete with Celtic, AC Milan and Lyon for the trophy.

Koscielny is relatively unknown, but looks like a good player. He helped guide Lorient to a seven placed finish in Ligue 1 last season and looked defensively solid in a team that recorded their highest ever finish in the top league in France. Koscielny is strong and has already boldly claimed that he will help solve Arsenal’s defensive problems. If he settles in quickly, I think there’s no reason why him and Thomas Vermaelen should be a good partnership and would shore up Arsenal to help them push for league glory. If captain Cesc Fabregas stays and new striker Marouane Chamakh settles in well and scores regularly, I don’t see no reason why Arsenal can’t push for the title.

Koscielny was one of Ligue 1’s best performers last season and is a very promising prospect indeed. He gets in and scores goals as well, and from his feet too as much as his head; I would liken him to a player like Tulio of Japan in that respect. Before he signed for Tours he was greatly linked with other Ligue 1 clubs. At 24, he is plenty experienced and will be a

If he’s French he doesn’t need one. In Europe we have the free movement of workers law (Art 39 EC if my memory serves me right) that allows anyone born from a country in the European Union to move and work in another country within the European Union.
As both England and France or in the European Union he would be free to travel and work in this country with no need for a work permit.

Help them push for the title? Help them push for champions league football more like it, the league has gotten even more top heavy this summer and Wenger is adding “prospects”, lovely. Can almost see why Fabregas would give up being the man to go ride the pine at Camp Nou…almost.